1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus which can provide recording close to apparently continuous recording although a recording system that is characterized by printing dots intermittently at a predetermined cycle is adopted.
2. Related Art
A conventional ink jet recording apparatus is based on a recording system characterized by printing dots intermittently at a predetermined cycle. FIG. 12 shows an essential part of an exemplary variation of actually measured values. In FIG. 12, the X-axis extends horizontally along the recording width for measurement, whereas the axis of the T extends vertically. If the quantity to be measured is flow rate, a line R expressing a variation of measured values is noticeably erratic as shown in FIG. 12. The explanation will go on hereinbelow assuming that coordinates corresponding to the measured values at times T1, T2, T3, T4 are X1, X2, X3, X4, respectively and, further, that the minimum and the maximum between times T1 and T2, between times T2 and T3, and between times T3 and T4 are X2, X2u, X3v, X3u, X3v, and X4, respectively.
The variation of FIG. 12 becomes as shown in FIG. 11 when printed in the form of dots every 30 seconds by the conventional ink jet recording apparatus. That is, in FIG. 11, dots are printed discontinuously at positions corresponding to coordinates X1, X2, X3, and X4 corresponding to the measured values at times T1, T2, T3, and T4, respectively. In FIG. 11, the recording sheet forward speed is 50 mm/hour (about 0.4 mm/30 seconds), and the line is recorded with the diameter of each dot being 0.4 mm.
The conventionally printed line shown in FIG. 11 becomes relatively calm even if the quantity to be measured is subject to conspicuous fluctuations such as flow rate, because the dots are printed discontinuously. Therefore, such printed line may be misjudged as being something different from what it is. To express the actual variation correctly, there is no other technique more suitable than making an almost continuous recording based on a known pen-recording system. It is for this reason that there has been a strong demand for an art that allows recording close to pen-recorded continuous recording to be achieved using a conventional ink jet recording apparatus.